Trophy (L.S)

Four

The insistent tapping of his best friend's fingers on the steering wheel was about to make him go mad.

The man chuckled as he turned on the radio to help diminish the tension-filled silence. "Relax mate, I'm sure you'll catch a beta today."

Harry grit his teeth as he breathed deeply. "I can't calm down, Blou's somehow managed to survive with a target on his head for years, and I just know that half of the alphas here are going to be chasing after him, including you, Liam."

Liam rolled his eyes. "Well yeah, I almost got him last year; too bad you weren't of age yet, then we could've made it a competition, see who can get to him first."

Harry gripped the steering wheel harder as he finally pulled up into Albert's driveway. "It's always a competition between us, though, because you just have to have what I want; don't you Liam?"

Shrugging, Liam just opened the door before stepping out of the truck, making sure to slam the door extra hard. He walked around to open the back, making a grab for his foothold traps.

Harry joined him a minute later, pulling out his box trap before starting to make his way towards the entrance of the field, Liam following along behind.

Upon entering, the two friends split up to set their traps wherever they'd like, and Harry snorted when he saw Liam setting one near the den; he considered that cheap, the poor betas would've barely left the safety of their nests.

Shaking his head, the alpha pondered for a minute, knowing that if he wanted to go home with the beta he's been longing for, he had to be smart.

With that, Harry immediately carried his trap towards the pond, setting it down amongst the grass there for a second as he jumped into the water, letting the pond disguise his alpha scent.

When deeming himself ready, he pulled himself out of the pond before picking the contraption up once again, ignoring the way his clothing stuck to his skin.

The alpha eyed the field around him, trying to find the perfect spot to set up his own trap, and he had found it. Stalking towards the area, he carefully placed the box down, letting the brown metal blend in with the overhanging reeds before he mended the area a bit to help hide the trap some more.

Once it was all set up, he started to take off his wet clothes, hiding them within the long grass before shifting into his own wolf.

Shaking out his dark brown fur to help dry himself faster, the alpha decided to move away from his set trap- otherwise the betas won't go near it at all if they could see him sitting there- and trotted off to find his best friend.

Liam was busy placing his last snare when he noticed Harry, frowning in concern when he saw that the alpha was soaked. "You smell like wet dog," he declared as he wrinkled his nose.

The older friend finished just as the warning bell rang, and with a quick sigh, he shifted into his wolf as well.

"If we work together, we can scare off the other alphas," Liam stated as he sat on his haunches, eying Harry cautiously. "Then it'll just be you and me."

Harry nodded, agreeing, because he'd rather it be just him and Liam chasing and catching Blou than having a random stranger snag the beta up. "May the best man win," he licked the tip of Liam's nose in a promise before stalking off to watch the upcoming fray.

The final bell had rung, and the betas' den gates opened up, but nothing happened right away.

Harry watched with interest as Blou poked his snout out into the open air, sniffing with caution, before the small beta sprinted straight towards the pond.

As soon as Blou was out of the den, all of the other selected betas for the hunt rushed out as well, running in a panic as a few alphas had already started to give chase.

Liam was already running after the small beta, Harry noticed, loud growls escaping his lungs if another alpha tried to join in.

He watched intently as his friend nipped at the beta's tail, at the beta's feet, anywhere really to keep the small wolf running ahead, and that was when he decided that that was enough.

With long, powerful strides, Harry already caught up to pace with Liam, catching a whiff of the wolf that ran in front of them.

Blou must've jumped into the pond himself if he was smelling like that, but oddly enough, Harry didn't seem to mind, that just means that it'll be harder for the beta to get caught by the other alphas.

Harry also seemed to notice that the small beta was running, yes, but not in a panic. Blou was calm and collected, knowing exactly what he was doing as he weaved through the grass, dodged under low-hanging branches, and scaled over logs and rocks that were in his path.

Pausing his chase, Harry watched as Liam continued to barrel after the brown beta.

The alpha wanted to come up with a game plan, and he seemed to think of one when he could see that the pair were heading towards his own trap.

Giving chase once more, Harry caught up with Liam almost instantly. His friend was getting tired, he could tell, but the other alpha was determined, and Harry will give him credit for trying.

With Liam keeping up with the beta's pace, Harry gained a bit of speed and flanked Blou's right side, letting the beta see him in his peripheral vision.

The beta seemed to become nervous at his presence, and Harry mentally cheered because one, the small wolf changed his course slightly towards the left, as the alpha expected, and two, the beta couldn't smell him, and that meant he wouldn't be able to smell the trap either.